10 minute read · Updated September 2026
The Canadian conventions
- Two pages for most professionals; three is acceptable at director level or for long contract histories. One page is fine early in a career.
- No photo, date of birth, marital status, or SIN. Canadian employers do not expect them and privacy law discourages collecting them.
- City and province are enough for location. Add "open to relocation" or "remote" if it applies.
- Work authorization in one line if you are not a citizen or permanent resident: "Open work permit valid to March 2028," for example. It saves everyone a question.
- Reverse chronological order. Functional CVs that hide dates raise more questions than they answer.
- PDF, named sensibly: Firstname-Lastname-CV.pdf.
Lead with what the reader is scanning for
A three-line summary at the top that answers: what you do, in which sector, at what level, with what systems. Not adjectives; facts.
Procurement specialist with six years in hospital and shared services sourcing. Led med-surg and capital RFPs under BPS directives; Oracle Cloud SCM and Power BI. SCMP candidate. Toronto, hybrid.
Compare that with "dynamic, results-driven professional with a passion for excellence," which tells the reader nothing and costs you the scan.
Show results, with numbers
Each role should have three to six bullets. Lead each bullet with what you achieved, then how. Numbers make the difference between a claim and evidence.
Healthcare supply chain examples
- Delivered $1.4M in annualized savings across 12 med-surg categories by standardizing products across four sites with clinical product committees.
- Reduced stockouts on critical items from 38 to 6 per month by rebuilding par levels and cycle-count discipline after the Oracle Cloud go-live.
- Managed 140 service contracts worth $22M with 98% on-time renewal.
Technology examples
- Migrated a PHIPA-regulated clinical platform from a single-tenant Azure deployment to AKS with Terraform, cutting monthly infrastructure cost by 31% and passing SOC 2 Type I with no exceptions.
- Built the Power BI spend and compliance model used by 26 member hospitals; reduced monthly reporting effort from five days to one.
- Led the supply chain workstream of an Oracle Cloud SCM implementation across three sites, delivered on schedule with 2,100 users trained.
Marketing examples
- Grew qualified pipeline from B2B digital channels by 64% year over year on a flat budget by shifting spend from display to LinkedIn ABM and search.
- Launched three surgical products in Canada on schedule, with all claims cleared through regulatory review and bilingual assets for Québec.
- Reduced blended CAC by 22% through structured creative testing across Meta and Google.
Name the systems and the rules
In our markets, tools and regulatory context are part of the job. A short "Systems and standards" line under each role, or a section near the top, helps a hiring manager and an applicant tracking system find you: Oracle Cloud SCM, SAP MM, Meditech, Kinaxis, Power BI; Azure, AKS, Terraform, Sentinel; HubSpot, Marketo, GA4; BPS procurement, MDEL, GDP, PHIPA, CASL.
Certifications and education
List designations with the awarding body and year: SCMP (Supply Chain Canada, 2023), CSCP (ASCM, 2022), AZ-104 (Microsoft, 2025), CISSP (ISC2, 2024), Google Ads Search (2026). If you are in progress, say so. Put education after experience unless you graduated in the last two years.
What to leave out
- References, or "references available on request." Employers will ask when they need them.
- Roles from more than 15 years ago in detail. One line each is enough.
- Soft-skill lists. Show them through results instead.
- Salary history. Ontario and BC employers are moving to posted ranges; let your consultant handle the conversation.
Tailoring for a specific role
You do not need a different CV for every application, but you should adjust the summary and reorder bullets so the most relevant results are first. When you apply through us, your consultant will tell you what the employer cares about most, so you can make those adjustments in ten minutes rather than an evening.
Before you send it
- Summary answers what, where, what level, which systems
- Every role has results with numbers where possible
- Systems and standards are named
- Dates are consistent and gaps are explained in one line
- Contact details and work authorization are current
- Exported as PDF and proofread by someone else
Want feedback on your CV from a consultant in your field? Register with us and ask during your intro call.